Good Art Without The Frills 9th Maitland Festival Features 236 Artists

October 13, 1985|By Dianne Selditch of The Sentinel Staff

The ninth annual Maitland Arts Festival opens next weekend without a brass band to welcome outdoor art buffs. It's a matter of policy.

''Maitland has been reluctant to have any distracting activities at their festival,'' said chairman Jack Nelson. ''We've made the artist the only attraction.''

This year, 236 artists will unload their vehicles to exhibit oils and acrylics, watercolors, graphics, photography, pottery, sculpture and crafts around Lake Lily, on the west side of U.S. Highway 17-92.

Eighty-five percent of the artists live in Florida, more than half in Central Florida, although others come from New England, the Midwest and Colorado. This emphasis on local artists is also a matter of policy.

''We want quality art but with 50 percent local artists,'' Nelson said. ''I would be surprised if it changed in the next five years.''

The artists were chosen from among 340 applicants, each of whom submitted four slides of their work and a $67 check. Those who were not accepted were reimbursed $60.

Even though organizers have rejected music groups and most outside vendors, festivalgoers wandering around the 4-acre lake will still be able to eat -- hamburgers, hot dogs, cookies, potato chips, beer and wine coolers, provided by members of the Maitland Rotary and their families. Two stands operated by professional concessionaires also will be serving refreshments.

''If you don't like the way your hamburger is cooked, you can talk directly to the chef,'' Nelson said. ''Everything is geared to make it pleasant for the public to see and buy the art.''

Last year, police estimated that 30,000 attended the festival the first day. Providing the weather cooperates, organizers expect the same size crowd between 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Free parking is available at businesses and on side streets near Lake Lily, including parking lots at four major banks, the Thomas W. Ruff Furniture Co. and in an open field on the corner of Maitland and Ventris avenues. Maitland Explorer Scouts and the police will be on hand to direct traffic.

The Maitland city parks department prepares the festival site before the festival and the city provides additional trash pickup afterward.

Organizers have guaranteed more than $5,000 in prizes and $7,500 in purchase money awards -- pre-paid certificates that can be exchanged for art at the festival. The city of Maitland contributed $1,000 for the Best of Show award. Category winners will receive prizes in lesser amounts.

Nelson has encouraged those who expect to spend money at the festival to buy the $50 purchase award certificates first, even if the decision is made at the festival. ''It's good for next year's mailing list,'' Nelson said, and the combined purchases help to lure good artists to the festival.

To buy one of those $50 purchase awards individuals can call Sid Cash at 628-4626. He'll also be the person to contact at the festival to buy purchase awards during the show. The Best of Show winners are displayed in city hall or the library. Last year's winning entry, a painting of a home in the woods by St. Petersburg artist Frank Strothmann, hangs in the office of Assistant Finance Director Linda Zeitler.

Awards will be announced at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Maitland Civic Center, following a complimentary barbecue there, and a 6 p.m. garden reception at the Maitland Art Center to honor the Rotarians, sponsors and artists. Admission to the barbecue and reception is by invitation only.

If it's words rather than images that festivalgoers crave, they can walk to the Maitland Public Library, just north of the festival site at 501 N. Maitland Ave., where the Friends of the Library will hold their 10th annual major booksale at the 89-year-old building.

Historically, the Maitland Rotary Club has organized the festival with a high percentage of their 77 members serving on one committee or another, such as concessions, publicity, grounds, registration and judging.

This year, however, the Rotarians asked Gerry Shepp, executive director of the Maitland Art Center, and Jeanne Schubert, a Maitland artist who last year won top prize in the watercolor division, to serve on the jury.

''Most of the Rotarians have an interest in art. We helped them make some decisions . . . especially in the area of contemporary art,'' Shepp said.

''My kid could do it better,'' is often the remark of festivalgoers. ''But if you're a good artist,'' he said, ''you know where each scribble should go.'' Traditional artistic values such as color, form and texture are, naturally, taken into account, he said.